By GEORGE HOLLIS/Guest Columnist

This is the time of year on the Christian calendar when we look at the promise of Christ that we too will one day enjoy our time in the resurrected life.

Advent is coming, when we will begin a new Christian year looking forward to the birth of Jesus.

Right now though, Christians are reminded that this life is simply a part of a process that ends with eternal life in a place called heaven.

While I am a Christian and believe firmly in the promises of Jesus Christ, it should be pointed out that all of the world’s major religions maintain that their followers should look forward to a resurrected life in a place like heaven.

Starting with the Thessalonians in about the year 60 AD, there has been a belief that the time has come for the new life to begin in just about every generation that followed.

If we look at our own time period, we all can remember belief that Jesus Christ would return on Y2K.

The same thing occurred during the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Holocaust and many, many other events.

Right now, non-Christians are focused on the Mayan calendar looking at 2012 being the beginning of a new time.

As a people, it must be concluded that we all have been made to yearn for a better life. We feel deep within us that surely this life, a life full of hardship and striving, cannot be all there is.

For me, a life devoted to the love and well being of other people, as Christ has instructed, brings a wonderful joy.

This joy is a gift from God to let us know we are following the good way; a way that leads to eternal life in a far better place.

The Rev. George Hollis is pastor of Cahaba Valley Church in Shelby County. You can reach him at 991-5226.